breakage of setserial in Sarge

From: Uwe Dippel (udippel_at_uniten.edu.my)
Date: 08/20/05

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    To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Date:  Sun, 21 Aug 2005 00:56:22 +0800

    setserial is broken, with respect to several aspects.

    Here is my story:
    Internal Modem on ttyS2 (COM3), IRQ5.

    Since the Linux kernel is too dumb to find out (the BSDs always find on
    their own, but this is another topic), I install setserial.
    Immediately it asks and suggests 'autosave once'. Okay, done.
    But it doesn't recognise my modem with the correct parameters.
    So I have to issue
    setserial /dev/ttyS2 irq 5
    Now the modem works.

    How to save the state for after a boot ?
    On RH I used setserial stop. Tried, doesn't work. That's okay, we are on
    Debian.
    man setserial says: /etc/serial.conf
    But it doesn't exist. The archive says: dpkg-reconfigure setserial.
    It asks me if I want to save the current state (autoconfigure once), and I
    say 'yes'. But still, it doesn't survive the boot. It also does not
    produce a serial.conf.

    We have to admit, that man setserial is wrong, and the function of saving
    the configuration beyond a reboot is broken.

    Here is how to do it:
    Install setserial, click 'autosave once'.
    Make your modem work using setserial with all necessary options.
    Once it works and
    setserial -bg /dev/ttyS*
    shows the good values,
    apt-get remove --purge setserial
    apt-get install setserial

    Now the reboot should be okay.
    Reason:
    1. the automatic configuration at install is the only time when the file
    is written. A dpkg-reconfigure will simply do nothing. Plus it fails
    to warn that it will *not save anything*.
    2. contrary to logic and man pages, the config is saved as
    /var/lib/setserial/autoserial.conf
    3. the dpkg --configure started immediately before install is logically
    wrong: since there is no setserial before you install setserial, all
    settings are default settings, taken from BIOS / Kernel. There is no need
    at all to save them 'autosave once'; because any reboot will bring them back.
    Only after one or more setserial commands will a 'save' be of any use.
    Worse: only *after* using setserial does 'autosave once' make any sense.
    But then it does not accept new values any longer.

    Shoddy quality control, sorry to say.

    For those not having read the full story and asking how should it work ?:
    1. go back to saving the configuration under /etc/
    2. do not 'force' an autosave at install. Rather ask:
    "Do you want to save your settings now ? Probably you don't, because you
    installed setserial to change the default settings, right ?
    So you better chose No now; fix the settings for your serial ports.
    When you are done, run dpkg-reconfigure setserial to store your settings
    to be permanent and survive a reboot".
    When the choice is 'Yes', the current menu comes up.
    At the suggested 'No', the dpkg --configure setserial is exited.
    When the settings are done,
    dpkg-reconfigure setserial will 'autosave once' create the serial.conf in
    /etc/

    Uwe 

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